Everyone Needs You. That’s Exactly Why You Can’t Forget Yourself.

For the people who are always taking care of everyone else.

Every family seems to have one.

The appointment maker. The meal maker. The person who remembers the birthday, finds the missing shoe, answers the late-night phone call and somehow keeps everyone moving when life gets hard.

Maybe that person is you.

There’s something beautiful about being the person people can count on.

There’s also a trap hiding inside it.

You can become so busy taking care of everybody else that you quietly disappear from your own list.

I understand caregiving from a deeply personal place. I lost both of my parents to cancer, and those experiences changed the direction of my life.

Caregiving can be incredibly meaningful. It can also ask more of you than you realize while you’re in the middle of it. The National Institute on Aging recognizes both the rewards and challenges of caregiving and emphasizes that caregivers need to care for their own well-being, too.

And no, that doesn’t necessarily mean disappearing to a spa for three days.

Sometimes self-care is much less glamorous.

Eat lunch. Drink the water. Take the walk. Get some sleep. Accept the help.

And when you’ve made it through one of those days that took everything you had, don’t end it criticizing yourself because it was hard.

Congratulate yourself for crushing a difficult day.

You made it through.

Tomorrow, you get another chance to take care of everyone you love—and that includes you.

Because the person everyone is counting on?

That person needs care, too.

— Rashelle Black, Board Certified Naturopath

CARE FOR THE BODY YOU LIVE IN
Part 4 of a five-part LivingMajik series.

Research & Further Reading

National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health
Caregiving Resources